About this project

We want to familiarise you with the strange, after estranging you with the familiar. This is an anthropology social engagement project.

Anthropology – pursuits of uncommon knowledge about what it means to be humans enmeshed in culture – need not be so estranged, or estranging. At present, anthropological thinking mainly occurs within ‘field sites’ and the ivory tower, and there are plenty of misconceptions about what anthropologists even do.

We wish to engage anthropologists (and other social and interdisciplinary scientists) in edgier, relevant and more accessible forms of communication. Whether this is considered public, engaged, popular or activist anthropology, The Familiar Strange project just wants to open up your thinking.

We have both blogs and podcasts to give the thoughts and lives of anthropologists some more critical – but informal – exposure. We particularly encourage early-career anthropologists to blog with us, while we run the podcasts to tap into more refined thinking from more established anthropologists, to facilitate our learning of anthropology and improve dialogue.